Love Stories
by Austen2388
Summary: Molly Prewett thinks a girl could spend her whole life waiting for Arthur Weasley to ask her dance, while Andromeda Black finds that family has a nasty habit of getting in the way of love.
1. Prologue: Almost Grown

"But Gideon, you promised I could come!" The little second-year girl whined as she hurried after the three elder boys down the corridor, hugging her potion's book to her chest, her red curls bouncing with each step.

Andromeda Black turned into the corridor that the group was walking down, the Prefect badge she had received that year shining on her school robes, and got a clear view of the scene before her. She recognized the participants from one of her mother's long rants on 'relatives that the family does not socialize with'. Before her were her distant cousins Gideon and Fabian Prewett, their blonde hair and stout, muscular build were in contrast to the tall, lean red-headed boy standing next to them. Andromeda recognized him as that "blood-traitor" Arthur Weasley, now in his final year of schooling along with Gideon. Fabian still had another year left, and their little sister, Molly, five. All of them were in Gryffindor, and so Andromeda hung back; her surname and Slytherin house badge usually only served to irritate and unnerve the group before her. And after the argument that had just transpired between her and her younger sister, Bellatrix, she was keen on avoiding any more arguments tonight.

Gideon and Fabian gave their sister the same exasperated look before turning to Arthur. "Do you mind if she comes along?" Gideon asked his friend.

"Not at all," Arthur responded cheerfully. Molly beamed up at him.

"Well, then come along and keep up." Fabian ordered as he began to walk away, holding out a hand for his little sister to take. Molly clung to his arm, practically bouncing down the corridor in her delight to be included.

Overcome by intense curiosity, Andromeda followed the group, intrigued by what could make them so excited. Eventually they turned into an empty classroom and Andromeda peered around the open door. A small group of twelve or so people had gathered around an odd mechanical device, most of them recognizable to her by their lineage: it was mix of mostly Muggle-borns and Half-bloods and a few Pure-bloods, like the Prewetts and Weasley. Andromeda was disgusted with herself for a second at being able to recognize people based on those distinctions, though she did not even know their names.

Her reverie was suddenly discontinued when Ted Tonks, a Muggle-born in her year, stepped forward and tapped the machine with his wand. Music, the likes of which she had never heard before, suddenly roared into life as the large black disc began to spin beneath the arm that held it in place. Arthur Weasley, who had been carefully examining the contraption, jumped backwards in surprise.

"What'd you say this was called again, Ted?" He asked in wonderment.

"A record player."

"Record player," Arthur repeated with amusement.

Meanwhile most of the group had jumped to their feet as though commanded by the notes of the loud guitar and piano. Andromeda was stunned for a moment at this spontaneous outburst of dance as she watched the girls' full skirts fly scandalously high as their partners spun them around. But in the next moment, it occurred to Andromeda that this was not spontaneous at all. Noticing that all the desks in the room had been pushed to the edges, she realized that dancing had been the plan all along. One couple, at least, was engaged in far too skillful acts of acrobatics to have come about spontaneously, and Andromeda blushed as the girl wrapped her legs around her partner as he spun her around before setting her on the ground again. Even little Molly Prewett was tapping out the foot movements as she stood by the record player, shooting furtive glances at Arthur Weasley, as though hoping he would drag himself away from the machine and ask her to dance. She was thrilled, however, when Fabian grabbed her hand and began to twirl her around. Her pale, freckled face glowed with such happiness, that it made Andromeda sincerely wish that she had had an older brother instead of two snotty, little sisters.

"What are_ you_ doing here?"

Gideon Prewett's accusing voice caused Andromeda to jump, and she resisted the urge to flee the scene that she had been spying on. Pride overcoming her embarrassment, she strolled into the room. The happy group visibly stiffened and fell silent as the record ended, one girl even gasped. However, they all relaxed a little when Andromeda was properly in the light and realized her hair was brown, not black. Apparently, they had all thought she was Bellatrix. Awareness of the fear that Bella inspired in others shamed Andromeda, and her face flushed as she continued into the room.

Her brown eyes open wide, Andromeda spoke. "I heard noise and, as a Prefect, I came to inspect."

"We're not breaking any rules, Black!" She heard someone in the back spit.

"Do you see me handing out detentions?" She retorted.

There was a mumbling of agreement and talk of continuing on, but Andromeda's lingering presence seem to dampen the mood. She thought of leaving, knew she ought to, but her feet remained firmly planted to the spot. Finally, she asked the question she had wanted to ask since the music first reached her ears. "What kind of music is it?"

It was Ted Tonks, tie undone and shirt untucked, that answered. "It's called Rock and Roll." And he smiled at her as he replaced the old record with a new one and the music started up again.

Grateful for his acceptance, Andromeda smiled back at him.

Ted held out his hand, inviting her to dance, and Andromeda took it shyly. She didn't know the steps, but Ted showed them to her, though he was not the most graceful dancer himself. Even Arthur had abandoned his examination of the record player and was now taking it in turns with Fabian to twirl a laughing Molly around the room. And Andromeda found that she felt happier in that abandoned classroom, dancing with Ted and listening to Rock and Roll, than she had in a long time.

**A/N: I've always been kind of fascinated by the more minor characters of the HP saga, and so here I am exploring how I think Molly and Arthur and Andromeda and Ted might have come together. I like to think that Molly always used to have a crush on her older brother's best friend, Arthur. Tell me what you think!**


	2. Sixteen Candles

Andromeda stared at the ceiling as she lay in bed the night of her sixteenth birthday. Hot tears spilled from her eyes and slid down her face, wetting her hair and stinging the still pink skin of her cheek—a painful reminder of the forceful slap her mother had given her earlier that evening. She took a deep, shuddering breath to stymie the tears, but in the next moment they came back faster and stronger. A small sob escaped her, and she turned over in her bed, curling into a fetal position.

This was definitely turning out to be the worst summer holiday ever. Not that they were ever very pleasant, but today's events had been particularly horrific.

* * *

Despite the fact that it was her birthday, Andromeda had been in a grim mood that day. Her mother had invited Rodolphus Lestrange to dinner again; she kept parading him in front of her, as though proximity would lead to marriage and another fortuitous connection for the family. Andromeda had managed to bear his company so far by reflecting on Ted's most recent letter and silently composing her reply. Andromeda didn't really blame her mother for trying to force her daughters into marrying well; she was under a lot of pressure from her own mother because she had only produced daughters. To her mortification, her younger sister-in-law, Walburga, had two sons, Sirius and Regulus. And despite the fact that they were still toddling around everyone was expecting them to proudly carry on the Black family name.

As the doorbell rang, Andromeda slowly made her way down the stairs, not complaining when a full head of fly-away black hair overtook her. Bellatrix had seemed to take enough of a liking to Rodolphus for the both of them, and she hastily finished pinning back a strand of hair before she answered the door.

"Oh, hello Aunt Walburga, and you've brought the boys." Bellatrix couldn't have sounded more disappointed as she greeted their aunt. Their nine-year old sister, Narcissa, caught up with Andromeda and they dutifully joined their aunt, sister and cousins by the door.

"Andy!" Sirius called as she came into view. He attempted to break free from his mother's grasp, but she only held his hand tighter and mumbled something about behavior befitting the noble house of Black. _For Merlin's sake_, Andromeda thought, _he's only three._

The toddler settled on a small, sad wave to his elder cousin that little Regulus mimicked.

Andromeda smiled down at the two boys. "Hello, Sirius. Hello, Regulus," she greeted before turning to her aunt, "Auntie, its good to see you."

"And you, Andromeda, my dear," Walburga replied with austere formality. Andromeda was supremely relieved that her mother appeared at that moment, and they were all able to retire to the front sitting room of their country manor. Druella proceeded to tell Walburga all about her plans for Andromeda to marry into the Lestrange family. This was a topic of conversation that she was having an increasingly difficult ability to ignore, especially since Bellatrix was shooting increasingly nasty looks in her direction. Andromeda sighed inwardly, and focused her attention on Sirius. Not allowed to play and expected to behave himself, the young boy had stationed himself at the foot of Andromeda's armchair and was staring despondently out the window. Wondering what he was looking at, she followed his gaze with her own. Nothing of interest seemed to be present itself—just the same gardens that had always been there—but Andromeda understood why Sirius looked out the window all the same because out there was not in here with this wretched family and their ridiculous rules.

Finally, Andromeda was able to excuse herself from the room, and hurried outdoors to the little stone building where the family kept their owls. Upon her arrival, Carina, her owl, flew towards Andromeda and obediently held out her leg.

"Hello, Carina. You know where this is going, don't you?" Andromeda cooed as she pulled her letter to Ted out of her pocket.

But in the next second, Carina gave a startled hoot of indignation as the letter was snatched from Andromeda's hand. She turned and gasped as she saw Bella holding the letter, gaping at the address.

"Ted Tonks!" Bellatrix exclaimed, her eyes lighting up with a maniacal fury, "the Mudblood!"

"Bella, please." Andromeda whispered.

"I knew you were up to something," her sister spat back at her. Andromeda lunged for the letter, but Bella was faster and took off towards the house. Andromeda pealed after her, but a sinking feeling in her stomach knew she would be too late.

Sure enough, by the time Andromeda has barged into the sitting room after her sister, her mother was already standing, waving the letter in her face. "Andromeda, what is this?"

"Just Bella making up her stories again," she lied quickly.

Bella hissed at her from across the room, but Andromeda barely had time to register the noise before a sharp pain erupted from her head. With a screech of rage, her Aunt Walburga had moved forward and painfully clutched Andromeda by the hair. "Don't lie to your mother, ungrateful brat!"

Andromeda bit back her whimper of fear and pain. Her aunt was shorter than she was, and so she was forced to bend over sideways as Walburga continued to clutch her hair. Her mother, however, did not seem to notice her eldest daughter's predicament, or did not care. She was carefully reading the letter.

Her mother finally tore her eyes away from the letter and straightened her robes. "Where are the other letters, Andromeda?"

Panic flickered through her system. "Other letters?" She asked innocently. Walburga tightened her grip on Andromeda's hair, causing her long nails to dig painfully into her scalp. Andromeda gave a little shout of pain, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Sirius and Regulus hiding beside the sofa that Narcissa sat upon, frozen like a porcelain doll. Bellatrix giggled from the corner she stood in. Andromeda still refused to answer her mother's question.

"No matter," she finally spoke. "_Accio_ Ted Tonk's letters." And with an awful whooshing noise, Andromeda saw the bundle of letters fly into the sitting room, still stacked together and tied up with one of her hair ribbons. Her mother caught them easily, and with a sneer she threw them into the fire that had magically sprung to life in the fireplace.

Andromeda was silent, though she desperately wanted to reach into the flames and rescue Ted's precious words of comfort and love. Tears began to stream freely down her cheeks.

She watched dejectedly as her mother strode up to her. "I would have never have believed that my daughter would grow up to be a blood-traitor. A Mud-blood's slut."

"Mother" Andromeda sobbed out against her will. Druella turned back around to face her daughter. Before Andromeda knew what happened, before she could blink, her mother's hand made contact with her daughter's cheek, forcing her head to the side. It stung, in more ways than one.

Walburga finally released her hair and strode out of the room with her sister-in-law, picking up Regulus on the way out. Narcissa and Bellatrix, with a jubilant look on her face, followed them. Sirius lingered by the sofa, however, and continued to watch his cousin sob in the middle of the sitting room.

"Sirius," Walburga called from the hallway, a warning tone in her voice. Reluctantly, the child obeyed his mother's order and left Andromeda alone in the room with only her broken heart for company.


	3. You're 16, beautiful, and you're mine

It was a busy, summer's afternoon in Diagon Alley. Crowds of shoppers, some with Hogwart's booklists in hand and old witches in to London to restock their potions cabinets, flitted to and fro. A banner that read "Grand Opening" levitated above a pristine new ice cream parlor, and a young mother was hopelessly attempting to wipe sticky melted ice cream off the fingers of her three young children. Giving up in the attempt, she straightened up and began to push the pram, her two toddlers holding onto her skirt. As the family passed the alley beside the shop a break in the crowd made visible two teenagers engaged in a lover's quarrel before the crowd closed in again, and the sea of shoppers swallowed the vista.

"Please, Ted," Andromeda said, close to tears, "Please, just let me go." She tore her eyes away from Ted Tonk's frantic features to look wildly about her, making sure that none of her family could see them. The wall of shoppers still blocked them from sight.

"I don't understand," he was saying, "I got one letter a day for three weeks and then nothing for two." It was a fact, but he put it to Andromeda like a question.

She turned back to look at him, finally unable to control her tears once she looked into his eyes. "I c-can't be with you, Ted!"

"Why, not?" Concern and anger mingled in his voice.

"My family. They found out; I can't be with you."

"Your family?" Ted said, laughter on the edge of his voice. Having never met the Blacks, Ted was unaware of the vehemence of their beliefs. However, upon seeing the look Andromeda wore, he sobered instantly. "They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"No…not really. But, if they found us again—Ted, I'm afraid of them. My aunt Walburga is mad and my mother—"

"'Dromeda, I'm not going to let your family's Pureblood nonsense stand in the way of the best thing that ever happened to me," he said bringing his hands up to cup her face.

To his dismay, Andromeda broke into sobs. "Don't say that!"

"It's true!"

"It just makes this harder…just let me go."

"I won't let them hurt you, Andromeda; just say you'll stay with me, please!" Ted pleaded with her, his eyes searching hers frantically.

"But, what if—what if they hurt you? I can't let that happen; I can't be with you anymore," Andromeda wailed, her whole body heaving with the terrible thought.

Ted finally seemed defeated. He pulled Andromeda close and hugged her to his chest, kissing the top of her head. "Ok," he muttered quietly, "ok."

Ted released Andromeda and turned dismally back toward the side door to Florean Fortescue's, slipping the striped apron over his head as he did so. The heavy door swung open and engulfed the solemn pair with the sweet, cool smell of ice cream and the noise of a busy shop. All too soon for Andromeda, however, it shut again taking Ted with it.

* * *

Sleep eluded Andromeda for a week after her official breakup with Ted. Every time she closed her eyes she saw Ted's devastated face and his sullen, defeated walk back to his job. His own misery amplified her own and made her chest ache in a most uncomfortable way. She sighed heavily and tried to think of happier things.

Unfortunately, her happiest memories were of her and Ted together. Before she had met him, Andromeda had gone through life more or less indifferently, apathetically following the plan her mother had laid out for her from birth. Go to Hogwarts, marry a Pureblood, have Pureblood babies, preferably sons. She supposed she had other happy memories. Her uncle Orion used to dote on her and take her and Bella for walks, pointing out all the constellations in the night sky. She had been happy then, listening to him talking about the stars or his stories about great witches and wizards. Then he had married Walburga and become as withdrawn and apathetic as Andromeda felt, drinking too much and seemingly not caring at all. As Andromeda got older, she realized that his stories had all been about Pureblood supremacy anyway. Hogwarts had shattered any belief she had in that nonsense; after all, Ted was just as talented as she was. The only subject Andromeda really loved and excelled at was Astronomy. And she found peace and contentment on top of the Astronomy tower at school and in her star charts. That was her life before Ted: more or less content, simply unaware of her own despondence.

Ted had brought her to life. Never before could she recall laughing until she cried. Never had she felt exhilarated like she did when Ted tugged her into broom cupboards for a quick snog. Andromeda had never seen herself blissful until she caught a glimpse of her own dreamy smile in Ted's dorm room mirror. She had been hanging off his bed examining an album cover as Ted talked about his day. When she rolled over, she just saw a flash of a pretty young woman with long brown hair, smiling and cheerful. It had surprised her so much that she had briefly looked about the room to see if there were any other girls hanging out in the 5th year Hufflepuff boy's dormitory. How many times had they listened to his records and talked about everything and nothing all at once? How often had she smiled like that and not known it? The image was so vivid, that Andromeda could almost hear the music—the steady strum of the guitar and the whine of the violins…

" _You come on like a dream, peaches and cream, lips like strawberry wine..,"_

Andromeda sighed again over the intensity of her daydreaming. She thought of the first night she met Ted, and the spark she had felt when he took her hand.

"_You're all ribbons and curls. Oooh, what a girl! Eyes that twinkle and shine…"_

Andromeda froze in her bed. She thought she must have been going mad, because it sounded like the music was coming from out side.

"_You're sixteen, you're beautiful, and you're mine."_

"What in the name of Merlin's beard is that racket?" Andromeda's father cried out from down the hall.

It suddenly struck Andromeda that if other people could hear the music than she must not be daydreaming at all. She jumped up from bed and raced to her window, wrenching it open violently. Andromeda stuck her head out and felt her jaw drop, her two long braids swinging comically from her sudden halt. Below her stood Ted in front of a new baby blue car. The faces of three anxious young men peered out of the window. Just visible in the darkness beside Ted was his record player, its sound amplified loud enough to wake the whole neighborhood.

"…_We fell in love on the night we met. You touched my hand. My heart went pop. And, ooh, when we kissed we could not stop…"_

Despite all her worry for Ted's safety as lights all over the house burst on, Andromeda felt that her heart would burst with happiness. She was touched, ecstatic, and practically euphoric. She was falling in love all over again for the silly young man on her front lawn. Just when Andromeda thought she couldn't have felt any better, Ted spoke.

Well, he tried to speak. At first, Andromeda couldn't hear him above the music, but then the man in the driver's seat stuck his wand out the window and pointed it at Ted. Voice magically amplified, Ted tried again:

"I love you, Andromeda Black, and I'm not giving up!"

She choked on her own happiness. "I love you, too, Ted—DUCK!"

With a cry of "Mudblood filth", her mother had sent a shower of green sparks at Ted from the next window over. Ted dived sideways, narrowly avoiding being turned into a cow paddy. While Ted seemed determine to finish out the song, his friends thought that the rainstorm of curses coming their way was the cue to go. The back door opened and Gideon Prewett popped out to grab the record player. He tugged on the sleeve of Ted's jacket, but Ted didn't budge.

" 'Dromeda!" He called, obviously more worried for her safety rather than his own though curses continued to rain down upon him. Andromeda heard the front door fly open and caught a glimpse of her father advancing angrily from it, firing off a Bat-bogey hex as he did so.

"Ted, RUN! Don't worry about me. Go!"

He finally did as he was told, stumbling backwards into the seat of the car. Someone yelled, "Go, Arthur, go!" and the car sped off, eventually rising into the air. There was a final cry of "I love you!" before the enchanted vehicle disappeared into the clouds.

Andromeda stood love-struck out of the window for several long moments, not caring to move and break the spell of happiness that she basked in.

"Andromeda Black." She heard her mother growl dangerously from somewhere behind her. The dreamy smile dropped instantly from Andromeda's face as she turned to face her seething mother. She could see Bellatrix and Narcissa hovering behind her in the hallway.

But it didn't matter, whatever punishment was coming. They could ground her, ignore her, pull her hair or slap her. They could disown or even torture her because the truth was that she would still love Ted Tonks if they did any or even all of those things. In fact, in the last two minutes, Andromeda had become quite determined to run away and marry that boy as soon as the opportunity presented itself.


End file.
